One Small Step . . .

I seem to come at the topics we are assigned to read about with a different perspective since I am teaching in the higher ed. environment. Unlike many of my classmates I do not have a background in education and I have come to learn over the past 19 years that having that knowledge would not only be a great thing for me but for many of my colleagues.
Once again this week I was faced with a situation where my department would have clearly benefited from the discussion we had in last week’s class about assessment. My department is required by the administration to give a comprehensive exam to students that they must pass in order to graduate. My department, which teaches mostly all hands-on type classes, uses an exam that they designed that is made up of 5 short essay questions that almost anyone off the street could answer. I was bewildered at best, to find that this exam had been given for the last 20 plus years. My comment was that perhaps we should assess the students in the manner that they learn, and that we teach. “How about requiring them to prepare a portfolio, much like the art area, that we could review before graduation?” I asked. I was met with glares and silence. This is just an example of teachers who have not made changes in their routine or in their classes in a long time.
Their resistance to change is very reflective of the fact that they are not actively learning to teach. That ceased for them years ago. The notion that teachers continue to learn how to teach is so appropriate to our educational system today. In this week’s reading, I am particularly partial to the community centered environment approach. I work in a department that is very much a community in that we all teach a small group of students and the material they learn in one class builds skills for the next. We have, by the shear nature of our hands-on program, a community centered environment and yet we do not commune effectively. Additionally, the assessment centered environment is a model we need to adopt as trying out new things in the classroom should be discussed in our “community” so that we all benefit from the trial of new methods of teaching.
As I thought about this week’s dilemma over the comprehensive exam, I was reminded of a course that I team taught with two other faculty members from different departments. Without really knowing it at the time, we employed all the methods of teacher learning discussed in the reading. We met outside of class regularly to discuss assignments. Did they worked? What could we change? What did we learn? How could we make it better? We asked each other if we thought the students were learning what we wanted them to learn and then worked together to make changes to improve the learning.
I think this lack of instructors wanting to “learn” at the higher ed. level is due to a variety of reasons, tenure being one of them, but I strongly feel that the lack of a background or coursework in the education area is a big reason. Additionally, I feel that the professional development opportunities and in-service activities are seen as a secondary ed. function and not one of higher ed.
The system has a long way to go to make changes. I feel like bringing things from my coursework to my department may be a small contribution but a needed one. I think my comments regarding the comprehensive exam have caused some chatter. Maybe I have pushed in the right direction . . . .
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."